can not start spring mvc 4 application without web.xml - spring

Question

I am trying to deploy spring mvc 4 web application without web.xml file using #Configuration annotation only.
I have
public class WebAppInitializer implements WebApplicationInitializer {
#Override
public void onStartup(ServletContext servletContext)
throws ServletException {
WebApplicationContext context = getContext();
servletContext.addListener(new ContextLoaderListener(context));
ServletRegistration.Dynamic dispatcher = servletContext.addServlet(
"DispatcherServlet", new DispatcherServlet(context));
dispatcher.setLoadOnStartup(1);
dispatcher.addMapping("*.html");
}
private AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext getContext() {
AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext();
context.setConfigLocation("ge.dm.icmc.config.WebConfig");
return context;
}
}
and my WebConfig.java class looks like :
#Configuration
#EnableWebMvc
#ComponentScan(basePackages="ge.dm.icmc")
public class WebConfig{
}
But when I try to start the application, I see in log :
14:49:12.275 [localhost-startStop-1] DEBUG o.s.w.c.s.AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext - Could not load class for config location [] - trying package scan. java.lang.ClassNotFoundException:
If I try to add web.xml file, then it is started normally.

Answer 1

You are using the method setConfigLocation which, in this case, is wrong. You should use the register method instead.
private AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext getContext() {
AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext();
context.register(ge.dm.icmc.config.WebConfig.class);
return context;
}
However instead of implementing the WebApplicationInitializer I strongly suggest using one of the convenience classes of Spring for this. In your case the AbstractAnnotationConfigDispatcherServletInitializer would come in handy.
public class WebAppInitializer extends AbstractAnnotationConfigDispatcherServletInitializer {
protected Class<?>[] getRootConfigClasses() { return null;}
protected Class<?>[] getServletConfigClasses() {
return new Class[] { WebConfig.class};
}
protected String[] getServletMappings() {
return new String[] {"*.html"};
}
}